Moving to a new location can be challenging, and you’ll likely need to spend a considerable amount of time packing and shifting items.
You may also need to carefully plan the day to ensure that all of your valuables are packed up and brought to your new place.
Having a checklist at hand will allow you to keep everything organised when relocating, and it’ll help you to identify which items are unnecessary and can be left behind. Additionally, it’ll assist you in prioritising tasks to make your house move more efficient.
For that purpose, here’s a checklist to help you have a seamless house move.
1. Prepare the packing supplies
Before moving, you’ll need to pack your belongings such as your clothes, household items, personal items, appliances, and furniture.
Since they differ in size and material, you may need various packing supplies for wrapping purposes. For some ideas, you could consider the following:
Bubble wrap
If you’re looking for reliable packaging material to wrap your glassware, you may need to buy bubble wrap.
You can choose from self-adhesive types and standard bubble wraps. In many cases, these also differ in size and thickness.
Some wraps are ideal for bottles and glasses, while others may suit life-sized mirrors and the like.
Boxes
These are standard containers for your items. Whether you’re bringing an item to your new location or just wrapping one for donation, you’ll need high-quality boxes to hold them.
Some packers or movers tear parts of packages to cover the sides and corners of appliances and fixtures to avoid dents.
In most cases, you can buy these items from packaging stores. However, if you want to save some money, you could reuse the boxes of appliances for packing. Corrugated cardboard boxes with a springy protective layer is a good option.
Zip lock bags
For small and essential items, such as jewellery, wallets, and professional cards, you may want to use zip lock bags to secure them. You might also use these packaging materials for toiletries so you can keep them safe.
Check out Stanley Packaging and similar stores for zip lock bags and other packaging options.
2. Pack what you can early
Weeks before your move, you’re likely to start packing the more oversized items, including appliances, fixtures, and furniture. It’s also a good idea to disassemble some larger items for easy boxing come move day.
In the days before your move, you’ll begin packing the essentials, including your clothes, personal items, and other necessities.
If you can, pack any items that you don’t use frequently as early as possible so that the move day can go smoothly.
3. Ensure smart and safe packing
Apart from durable packaging materials, you may need to apply some approaches to ensure that your boxes and items won’t be damaged during moving.
Labelling each box may help you easily identify the items inside, for instance.
You could also group similar items into one container. For example, soaps and shampoos could be kept in the same box.
On the other hand, you can secure books and photo albums in the same package. Clothes could be in the same box with other fabric items.
4. Stack properly
When preparing to move, you’ll need to identify the heaviest boxes as they’re the ones to be placed at the bottom of a pile.
They’ll set the stability of the pallet and reduce the causes of falling and bumping into other boxes, avoiding denting and breaking the materials inside.
5. Hire a professional moving company
To safely transport your essentials, you may want to hire a professional moving company.
In choosing one, consider the experience and reputation of the company. Think about the vehicles they use in transporting your essentials.
Lastly, compare the costs of your choices before hiring the one that suits your needs.
6. Plan the date and time for your move
Before picking the date of moving, check the weather forecast for the dates you want to relocate. That way, you could reschedule your moving if bad weather conditions are expected.
If you’re pushing through despite harsh weather, you could prepare by adding more covers and containers to keep your items dry.
Assess and review before the move
The checklist in this article gives you an overview of what to prepare to make moving easy and efficient. But before that, you may want to assess your needs first. What are the essentials you need to bring to your new place? Are you moving in with your partner? What budget do you have for the move? Are you going to move in at the soonest possible time?
Collectively, your answers to these questions will help you choose what to prioritise. For better ideas, you may ask people who have recently moved for tips.
Ask them about the best packaging materials they used when moving heavy-duty items and research their best hacks for packing and moving that contributed to their seamless move.